Five steps to take if you're emotionally distressed

The Star

Emotional distress can affect anyone, but there are ways to navigate through it. Mental health experts share top five practical steps to help you regain calm and clarity when you're distressed.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Breathing exercises definitely help, deep breathing exercises, right, and I use that

00:254-7-8 formula for my clients, my patients, when I tell them that you, you know, when

00:31you take a deep breath, inhale for 4 seconds, hold on to it for 7 seconds, and exhale slowly

00:40for 8 seconds, and repeat this cycle 4-5 times, you'll be amazed how, you know, emotionally

00:50stabilizing this whole easy exercise can be to your system. It is so difficult for us

01:00to forgive ourselves, it's much easier to forgive another person, you know, and this

01:05is where I think self-compassion, meaning there's a need for somebody to understand

01:10that everybody makes mistakes, everybody has difficulties in life, and one should not judge

01:18oneself too harshly in this, and many at this crucial moment may feel that the whole world

01:26is against them, or the world doesn't care about them, they must, you know, somehow understand

01:32that while this may be true, but there is somebody else in that world who thinks a world

01:36of them. Just for a few hours, I'm going to forget my rules and responsibility, so I don't

01:44need to, oh I need to work hard here, oh I need to take care of this person, oh I need

01:49to study hard and all. Once in a while, just be yourself. So I feel like having ice cream

01:55for breakfast, I'll go do it. I feel like just singing in my room on top of my voice,

02:01just do it. So once you take a few breaks like this, it just lightens your burden.

02:07Reach out to somebody, somebody close to you, a friend, a relative, whoever it is, we all

02:13have one or two people like that in our lives. Reach out to them, and just talk about how

02:19you feel, and you'll be surprised, just talking to somebody can actually help you in this.

02:25Community work actually is very important. So give back to society as well. In life,

02:32I think we are focusing on making a living for ourselves, survival within ourselves only,

02:40but if we help other people, or just a simple act of opening the door for someone, and someone

02:46says thank you, that really boosts up your happiness as well. So if you can do a bit

02:52of volunteer work in a pet shelter, an old folks home, you see their gratitude, it makes

03:00you feel better as well. It increases your self-worth there.

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